GARETH VAN ONSELEN: Mmusi Maimane’s Sona speech was a visionless, strategic mess
Unless the DA develops a clear vision for the country and a strategy to communicate it, it is going to be sucked entirely into Cyril Ramaphosa’s ANC universe
DA leader Mmusi Maimane’s speech on Monday, in response to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s state of the nation address (Sona), was seriously problematic. Indicative of the DA’s "Ramaphosa problem", it failed fundamentally to distinguish the DA as an alternative to the ANC and, instead, read like capitulation in the face of the new-found momentum and rabid optimism that have accompanied his election. Unless the DA, very quickly, begins to develop a clear and cogent vision for the country and a strategy to communicate it, it is going to be sucked entirely into the ANC’s universe. And that, come 2019, spells electoral disaster. The capitulation was upfront and unequivocal. "President Ramaphosa has promised the people of SA a ‘new dawn’," Maimane said, "And I want to pledge my support, and the support of my party towards the realisation of this goal." Then, perhaps even more remarkably, he would say, "President Ramaphosa faces a difficult task and he needs our help." He said: "We need to do...
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